any pipefish eat frozen?

[bluenassarius]

i'm curious about pipes. i saw a pair of alligator pipes at the LFS and was soo tempted to take them home. i didn't however, i didn't want their fate in my hands. do they take frozen? what are the basics for caring these animals?

 

[landlord]

I do not claim to be an expert on the keeping of pipefish but my multibanded pipefish has been eating frozen mysis and frozen cyclops for sometime now. He/she would not take it at first and was thriving on an abundance of pods in my tank but over time he learned to recognize feeding time and began plumping up on the frozen food source.

As a side note I originally acquired two pipes and one did not make it past day 2. I think the health of the animals prior to them hitting the tank is paramount in their success. With getting them via mail order it is tough to guage whether they have the ability to thrive.

--landlord

 

[philter4]

I have red striped and blue striped pipefish, they all eat frozen, the red striped eat any frozen I put in including lg mysis and bits of shrimp. The blue stripes eat mini mysis, cyclops and the refrigerated arctipods. I have 3 prs and a single pipe and it took them no longer then a week or 10 days to start feeding.

 

[danfrith]

Your alligator pipes would probably be more at home in a refugium/ slow water movement enviroment as opposed to a reef. I think most pipefish can be trained to eat frozen with minimal effort. For feeding I would try as many frozen foods as possible, especially mysis, cyclopeeze, rod's food. If you offer frozen enough in a short amount of time, atleast IME, they start to try the food and then eat it when they get hungry enough. If that doesnt work you would want to try live, which works most times.

Good luck.

 

[bluenassarius]

this is encouraging to hear. i want t keep them in a mixed reef environment. i've already ordered vortech pumps. i'm planning to have it set on the low setting of the reefcrest mode so the corals, algae and seagrass sway.